CSR Communication from a Rhetoric and Semiotic Perspective

Catellani, Andrea [UCL] Ihlen, Øyvind

This chapter presents the rhetorical and semiotic approach to CSR. The first part of the chapter asks what this “thing” called rhetoric and semiotic is. We introduce some references and notions that are useful to understand relevant aspects of the theoretical foundations and toolbox of these theoretical approaches. The second section asks how this toolbox has been applied to analysis of CSR communication. We present some contributions and results, with a specific focus on the environmental aspects of CSR as a specific sub-field. The third and last section asks where we would like this research field to go, pointing to potential paths for future developments. The main goal is not to conduct a complete review of the literature, but to contextualize and highlight some interesting contributions, and to pinpoint some needs for the future.